A resourceful offspinner with a high action, and a useful, hard-hitting batsman, John Bracewell's strike rate of a wicket every 82 balls was very respectable for a spinner in the 1980s, when the art was virtually dead. He took three six-fors, all of them in New Zealand wins, the most famous of which was at Auckland in 1985-86. Bracewell's 6 for 32 helped the Kiwis to a victory that made them the first side to beat Australia in two series in one winter, and he became the first New Zealand spinner to take a ten-for. He could belt the ball too, and at Sydney earlier in the same winter he bashed 83 not out in a last-wicket partnership of 124 with Stephen Boock. Bracewell went on to coach Gloucestershire, inspiring them to a series of one-day trophies at the turn of the century. He returned to New Zealand, as the national coach, in September 2003. He guided New Zealand through a moderately successful period and took them to his first World Cup as coach with momentum having won the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy for the first time. After the 2007 World Cup, where New Zealand finished semi-finalists, he was give a two-year extension as coach, but results were hard to come by and by the time he quit, in November 2008, New Zealand had slipped to eighth in the Test rankings. Bracewell returned to Gloucestershire for another stint as coach.
Rob Smyth January 2009

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